📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

[Daisoujou]

@CyberSlam

I have been enjoying the manga so far. I read a little bit of it in English and a lot of Teasing Master Takagi before this, so it’s a great feeling being able to read this manga in Japanese even if I only understand bits and pieces without a translator.

That’s cool! It’ll be like that, requiring more help for a while for sure; my first several manga reads were definitely a struggle. It gets better! But yeah, keep savoring what you’re managing, anyway. I want to read Takagi some day but for now I’m watching it. It seems right about at my level for listening, which hasn’t been easy for me to find, so I’m having a great time.

@CyberSlam

Also, I like your Ace Attorney updates. I’ve been a fan of that series for a while. Is it hard to understand the legal terms in Japanese?

Thank you! It’s a great series. I haven’t found that part of it too bad – I happened to start the game directly after learning many words relating to investigating/judgment/etc somewhere in the 20s on Wanikani, so that was really fortunate timing. There was definitely a bit of upfront learning of a few courtroom terms, but with how frequently they repeat, I’m super solid on them now. I’d say the biggest struggle has just been certain individual characters. With how much they lean hard into role language each new person is a bit of a new challenge. First talking to Grossberg was surprisingly hard because he uses some sound shifts that I’d never seen before. Lotta Hart has required a few kansai dialect lookups. The waiter in case 2 was a bit of a keigo primer. Etc, etc.

Overall though, I’m quite happy with its difficulty relative to where I am. It’s very easy to find those sentences with a single unknown point.

[rikaiwisdom]

Summary Post

January 13
君の名は , 7 pages.

Random words

• 名残 = なごり traces, remains.
• 吸着 = きゅうちゃく absorption, attachment.
• 図鑑 = ずかん a picture book with explanations.

---

Sleepy day, part 2.

[basilsauce]

@vonnutje

The book looks interesting and it even has a tsubasa bunko version!

How is the story overall? Are the new words mainly based around mystery or is there another reason for the many new words?

I left a long-ish review of 怪盗探偵山猫 on Natively.

I think it’s a fun book and helps fill a hole for us language students. I was really happy to be able to read a story about grownups, with grownup-world vocabulary (not just school life) and tons of kanji but also full furigana. It isn’t one of those books that hits you with a lot of vocab in the beginning and then tapers to nothing by the middle. (At least I don’t think so, but it’s also possible that my existing vocabulary had enough overlap that I wouldn’t see it.) It’s more like new vocabulary keeps coming in a steady drip through the book, as the situations change. Some of it is reused, some not. The plot twists are fun, but in the middle I deliberately slowed my reading pace for a while in order to give myself a little space to absorb some of that vocab.

A few days ago I started 旅猫リポート, another general audence book with a full-furigana version (from Aoi Tori Bunko). The person who added it to Natively categorized it as a children’s book but I’m on page 40 now and it definitely feels like it’s for an older audience than また、同じ夢を見ていた or 君の名は or ペンギン・ハイウエイ, none of which are in the children’s category.

[Beyond_Sleepy]

Home post

On days 4-7 I’ve slowly made my way through よつばと pages 12-16. I’ve chronicled my attempts at understanding in this post in my study log

[Daisoujou]

Summary post

Ace Attorney: After a decent period of days spent mostly just sitting back and reading, looking up words here and there, today was one of those “knock the overconfidence out of you” experiences. After 75 minutes of reading I had made it through only two scenes, the opening request for defense conversation and first meeting with the defendant in the holding area. By then, I was totally ready for a break and had come across plenty of new words anyway.

It’s a confluence of new case problems. This one starts throwing out more forensic references, so there’s that to work through. And with any new case comes new words for methods of death, new location words, an all new cast, etc. My issue with the defendant is she speaks very formally, using N1 grammar points that are marked as primarily literary and the like, or unfamiliar words for things I know other, more common words for. Tiring, but a chance to learn. It’s harder to pinpoint my issues with how the other character speaks, but she was throwing me off too. At times she was conversing about what she is going to be/do in the future or already is now and a lot of them were just… patterns I haven’t quite seen before, I think. Could usually tell what was meant but there were moments I really struggled to see just quite how the pieces were getting there.

Nonetheless, I’m excited to push through it because this is probably my favorite case of the game, and if nothing else, today was the introduction of Ema (Akane in Japanese), one of my favorite characters in the whole series:

Favorite new word: 現行犯 (げんこうはん), which means “(caught) red-handed.” Just a cool word to know, and the kanji are decently fitting too. The investigation begins for real tomorrow!

Zoo 1: On the other hand, this is getting easier bit by bit. Some sentence structures still catch me out and confuse me for a bit, and many require rereading because they’re a little longer than I’m used to. Nonetheless, the core vocab for Seven Rooms has repeated so much by now that the new words are really shrinking. I will know 溝 (みぞ), trench/drain/gutter/ditch, better than anything by the time this story is over.

[BadWeather]

Summary post

January 13 update:
Read 3 pages of 時をかける少女. This time it was very action-filled, and I had to look up more words than in the past few days, so I feel exhausted, and at the same time still a bit vague on the exact events (perhaps I should’ve looked up even more words…)

I’m thinking that maybe I should check out the book club’s discussion. I actually found out about both 時をかける少女 and よつばと！ by virtue of seeing them in the master book club thread, and I definitely picked them up with the intention to at least lurk the club threads, even if years after they read them. But somehow I never did

@pocketcat

In my experience it does. Right now your brain is doing a lot of processing for each sentence I bet. When I started out just reading Harry Potter was a total mental drain and now light fiction is easy to go and go but classic lit or topics with vocab outside my wheelhouse tire me out.

This is very reassuring! I felt it would likely be that way, because my prior experience with languages, both foreign and native, was somewhat similar. But after plateauing with Japanese for a while, I had some doubts whether what I had been doing was effective, so thanks for confirming that it worked out for you! Now I feel somewhat relieved

[pocketcat]

@Daisoujou

And with any new case comes new words for methods of death, new location words, an all new cast, etc.

Minorly morbid discussion

Hahaha…my anki deck is full of stuff like 轢死, 焼死, 縊死, 惨死, etc. Based on your taste in movies (from the listening thread) and this game, you might eventually find this article explaining the differences between the various words for corpse to be helpful (I certainly did, which is why I bookmarked it! ).

[Daisoujou]

Minorly morbid reply

It’s indeed morbid, but I love that you have all of those. Today was a simple 失血死, which I think was used before in this game, but in less convenient contexts to mine from. Also 一突き, which I guess is simple enough since I know 突き, but every instance like this is hard to trust myself on until I’ve checked it.

I’m definitely going to read that article, thanks for sharing it, but immediately after posting my update I read Zoo for another half hour then did some reviews, so… it’s time to give my brain a break first.

[sycamore]

mini reading day today! (I might read some かがみの孤城 before bed but I am 100% not allowed to start playing ときめき at this time lol, don’t trust myself not to just stay up until 3am or something and I’ve already had a zero motivation work week)

My iTalki teacher suggested that I find an article for us to discuss for my lesson next week and I was actually trying to find the ‘original’ version of an article that I saw on NHK news easy about gendered uniforms in schools but instead found this article (好きなのに結婚できず、子どもを持てない…　トランスジェンダーの監督が描く恋愛映画「フタリノセカイ」：東京新聞 TOKYO Web) about a film I’m now definitely interested in watching when it comes out. The film is called フタリノセカイ and is from a transgender director, based on his own experiences. I thought he had some interesting things to say when quoted in the article and I might actually see if I can find some kind of longer interview!

@basilsauce

I left a long-ish review of 怪盗探偵山猫 on Natively .

ooooh, this sounds really good! Have added to my Natively wish list for the future

@skatefriday

岡崎市 has an absolutely spectacular 花火大会.

Aw, it looks amazing! Were you in 岡崎市 to study at Yamasa Institute?

further questions to @skatefriday that are irrelevant to this thread

Yamasa is on my list of ones I’m looking into for hopefully going to Japan for a few months in 2023 (coronavirus dependent obvs) - but most of the reviews I’ve found for it are really old. Would you be okay if I asked you a few questions about your experience there, and how you found 岡崎市? If so, my discord is sycamore#6187 (or there might be a more relevant language school thread here, not sure)

[NihongoLearner19]

I finished the last chapter of 蓮住荘のさんかく 1 today. My first manga read (in Japanese) this year! Definitely recommended. Very easy, fun, and cute. I believe the first volume is still free on Amazon.jp, too!

[lucylavelle]

Day 13
I finished the second volume of レンタルおにいちゃん, and with it ending the way it did I think I’m going to have to start volume 3 as soon as I can!
I’ll try to be sensible and do all of my bookclub reading first though.

(Home Post)

[skatefriday]

@sycamore

Aw, it looks amazing! Were you in 岡崎市 to study at Yamasa Institute?

Yes. Sent you a discord friend request. Happy to answer any Yamasa questions you have.

[Redglare]

Summary post

January 13
・かがみの孤城.

Progress: (72% → 79%)

Got a bit distracted by stuff, but eventually managed to focus on reading. It’s super late now tho

[chamellow]

Update post for the last uhh… 10 days, oops! | Home post here!

So I’ve kept up with reading every day but work has been manic so I’ve had to let some things slide and daily posts were one of them!

I’ve not been playing so much Animal Crossing this last week because I ended up starting Persona 5 Royal last Friday (in English) and I’ve gotten a bit sucked in, but I have a week off work next week so I can stretch free time enough to incorporate two games.

I have, however, been keeping up with レンタルおにいちゃん at a steady pace, and I’m now almost done with Vol.3 - just one chapter to go! I’ve mostly been stopping when something is a bit too much for me to comprehend because of brain tiredness, and it’s quite interesting to see how quickly I’m able to follow that previously difficult page with ease when it’s the first page I read the next day. Perhaps brain fatigue is half to blame, or is my brain mulling on it during sleep?

Interesting words picked up over the last week:
転校 てんこう - changing schools.
堂々巡り どうどうめぐ - going around in circles

@lucylavelle

Thanks for giving me the little push I needed to start reading this volume, @chamellow! I’m really enjoying it.

I’m so glad! I’m almost done with Vol. 3 now and I’m so enjoying the character development, I’m going to be quite sad when it’s all over. I feel like we’re going to get a happy ending so it’s not going to be too bittersweet but part of me is still fearing a curveball at the end.

[CyberSlam]

Main post

January 13th:
Read 2 pages of それでも歩は寄せてくる
A little tired today so I only read two pages. I really like the look on Ayumu’s face when Urushi said she wanted club members.

[windupbird]

Summary post

Day 13: January 13th

365日にっぽんのいろ図鑑
Time spent: 16 min
Today’s color: 宍色 (ししいろ) - meat color

So…I’m a bit confused, because the internet seems to indicate that 宍色 is a light pink tone, but the book’s coloring is this? I’m…am I crazy or are those completely different colors? I mean, they’re both kind of flesh-colored, I guess, but…in different ways lol. Interestingly, the book says it can also be called 肉色 (にくいろ) - googling that seems to bring me colors that are closer to what the book used.

Anyway, here are some words I learned

• 橙色 (だいだいいろ) - orange (I just now realized that I’ve never actually heard the Japanese word for orange, I’ve only seen オレンジ色)
• カモシカ - serow, wild goat

まいにち暦生活 日本の暮らしを楽しむ365のコツ
Time spent: 8 min

Today I learned about furisode (振袖), kimonos with long sleeves. I think the most interesting part was learning that apparently furisode could be used to indicate one’s romantic interest in the old days - swinging the sleeves left to right means you’re interested, and swinging them front to back means no thank you please xD

What else did I read?
囀る鳥は羽ばたかない Vol 1
Amount read: 9 pages
Time spent: 46 min

And I’m officially caught up! I think! There are literally no page numbers so it’s really kind of hard to tell!
But also I learned a great word today!
脱臼 (だっきゅう) - dislocation I like it 'cause the second kanji is literally dislocated

@fustian_garb

There’s an app for these! And you can flick between the Japanese and English versions. If you search for Japanese seasons on your app store you should find it.

Oh cool! I’m gonna take a look

[sansarret]

Finished Chapter 8 of 極主夫道 in 5 days, reading 30+ minutes each day. Keeping up with the challenge, but going too slow.

Home post

[natarin]

January 13 Home Post

So I finished chapter two of 錆喰(さびく)いビスコ today which means I read it in two days It’s a shorter chapter, only twelve pages, but like… that’s wild? That would’ve been exhausting to even think about like two weeks ago; it’s amazing to see how much has changed already! I’m definitely feeling the whole “the beginning of a book is the hardest part” thing; it’s still really hard for sure, but I have a much better feel for the book at this point and I think it’s really making a difference. The hardest part now is really some of the flowery language and weird speaking styles of some of the characters, but what else is new huh?

I’ll be on the road for most of tomorrow soooo not sure how much reading I’ll be able to fit in, but here’s hoping for the best! (if anyone has recommendations for good Japanese audiobooks or anything let me know )

Cool words

裏腹(うらはら) - opposite, contrary
聖人君子(せいじんくんし) - person of perfect virtue, saint
歪(ゆが)める - to curve, to warp, to distort (this was used to describe a smile and god it just captures the energy perfectly)
思(おも)い思(おも)い - as one likes, in one’s own way
陥(おちい)る - to fall into (chaos)
三(み)つ編(あ)み - braid (this was already drilled into me by ラストゲーム so it was good to see it again lmao, it’s like an old friend)

[tiny_river_otter]

Summary Post

Day 13: Today I read the last two bonus chapters at the end of the Way of the Househusband, and so I’ve finished the volume!

[pocketcat]

@natarin

if anyone has recommendations for good Japanese audiobooks

I’m not totally sure your level, so recommend listening to the previews and judging for yourself, but these are my reccs:

Hidden for length

コーヒーが冷めないうちに is the easiest audiobook for adults I’ve come across. Slower spoken, every day vocabulary, nothing unusual for dialects that I can recall (listened to it last year). It’s a nice chill story about a coffee shop where urban legend has it you can travel back in time, but only to meet with people who have been in the coffee shop before, and nothing you do can change the present. Other rules explained along the way.

世界から猫が消えたなら is a story about a man who finds out he’s going to die, and the devil appears to make him a deal. He’ll extend his life, in exchange for vanishing things from the world. This one is also more slowly narrated than usual for a lot of scenes, but not all. It’s more of a vocab stretch than the one above, though.

謎解きはディナーのあとで - I literally bought this today so no review, but I listened to the preview on the site and it sounded pretty straight forward with the caveat that you already are well familiar with both formal-ish language and crime vocab.

スマホを落としただけなのに - You will need a lot of both crime and tech vocab, but the writing style is quite straight forward and no one speaks using a dialect. I enjoyed this a lot, but it is violent. See my Natively review for details if wanted.